Clear Eyes, Full Hearts
by misstiffanyboxblue
Summary: Set way in the future. Matt and Julie are married as well as Tim and Lyla. They both have children going to Dillon High. Jason is coaching the team.
1. Introduction

**Hey y'all, this isn't going to be a real chapter, just a kind of prologue getting everyone up to date about what has been going on with our Dillon Panthers. Just a quick disclaimer, this is my first FNL fanfic and I have only seen season one and half of season 2 but I absolutely love this show and this is what happens in the future in my imagination. Hope you enjoy **

**I do not own Friday Night Lights. If I did, Matt Saracen would be in every single scene!**

**I'm going to just write a little paragraph telling you about each character. The New characters will also have a physical description.**

Coach Taylor: Now living in Austin and working as the quarter back coach at TMU. Tami and Grace live with him there. Grace is attending college at TMU.

Matt Saracen: Graduated from TMU where he was QB1. He married Julie Taylor and they moved back to Dillon and into her family's old house. He is currently Dillon High School's art teacher. He and Julie now have a 16 year old son named William Eric Saracen, who is the QB1 for the Dillon Panthers.

Tim Riggins: Stayed in Dillon after high school and married Lyla Garrity. They bought a crappy shack of a house and were living there happily until they struck oil in their backyard. Needless to say, they are now filthy rich and have moved out of that crappy shack of a house. They now have a 15 year old daughter named Elizabeth May Riggins, or as Tim calls her, Texas. She's a cheerleader for the Panthers. Tim is still one of the coaches for the Panthers despite all of the money.

Jason Street: Is now the head coach of the Panthers. He never got married.

Julie Taylor: Now Julie Saracen, is the Dillon High School English teacher.

Lyla Garrity: Now Lyla Riggins, is the Dillon High School guidance counselor and cheerleading coach.

Tyra Collette: Married Landry and they now live in Houston. So she now goes by Tyra Clarke.

Smash Williams: Graduated from LSU and is now playing for the Dallas Cowboys. The first thing he did when he got enough money was buy his mom a mansion there.

William Saracen: Everyone calls him Will. He may be QB1 but he still lacks confidence. He's exactly like his father in almost every way. Including looks, although he has Julie's blue eyes.

Elizabeth May Riggins: Her father calls her Texas, her mother calls her Elizabeth May, but everybody else calls her Ellie. She's incredibly small for her age, she's only 4'7 and barely 80 pounds, but don't let that fool you. She's feisty and is a ball of energy. She's a spitting image of her mother, but she has her father's soulful eyes.


	2. In Which History Repeats Itself

"Will! Get up! First day of school!" Julie Saracen yelled up the stairs.

What she didn't know was that Will was already up and ready. He had been for an hour. He was sitting on his bed, in blue jeans and a 2006 Panthers State Champions shirt, reading over his play book. This was his first year on first string and he really wanted to prove to Street and the other coaches that he had it in him. Last year's QB1, Noah Mitchell, graduated in the spring with a full ride to Ole Miss. Will Saracen knew he was no Noah Mitchell, but he also knew his father was no Jason Street, and he seemed to do alright.

30 minutes later, he walked down the stairs and sat at the breakfast table.

"Oh! I guess you are alive and breathing!" Julie said sarcastically.

Will opened his mouth to ask why his mom was being so bitchy, but he stopped when he saw his father just shake his head. His dad was a quiet guy, but when he said something or gave advice, people always listened. Will was a lot like that too. When his mom turned back, Matt whispered, "She's just nervous about her first day teaching."

"I heard that," Julie snapped.

When he finished his breakfast, Will stood up and pushed in his chair, "Well, I have an early practice and then another after school, so I'll be home at like 6:30."

"Alright, I love you. Have a great first day sweetie." Julie smiled at him. Sure she could be a little pissy sometimes, but when it really counted she knew exactly what to say.

"If Street or Riggins give you a hard time, just brush it off. Jason already told me that he thinks you are more than capable to lead this team to victory."

"Thanks guys," Will yelled as he walked out the door to his car.

As soon as the door closed, Julie started crying.

"Whoa. Julie, I know you're stressed about today but you'll be fine"

"It's not that," Julie shook her head.

"Then what is it?"

"We're so old!" she balled, "Just a week ago, that was me walking out the door. And he was only born like yesterday!"

"You don't think you're being a little bit overdramatic?" Matt chuckled.

Julie gave her husband the death glare and smacked him upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Making fun of me."

Matt laughed so hard, milk came out of his nose.

**The Riggins Household:**

"Elizabeth May, sweetheart, it's your first day of high school," Lyla Riggins was gently shaking her daughter, "You need to get up. You don't want to miss your first cheerleading practice. The coach wouldn't like that very much."

Ellie rolled over and groaned, "MOM! You are the coach!"

"Well that doesn't mean I'm going to go any easier on you."

"Ugh! We've gone over this before. I know I have to work just as hard as…." And she was asleep.

"Told you she has narcolepsy." The sound of Tim Riggins' voice still sent shivers down Lyla's back.

"She does not have narcolepsy!" She gave her husband a look.

"Does too," Tim smirked," TEXAS! Get your tiny little ass out of bed!" he yelled before ripping off her covers.

His daughter instantly contracted into a tiny ball, "Daddy! Give it back! I'm cold!"

"Then cover up before you go to bed! Jeez, could those shorts be any smaller?" Ellie Riggins was dressed for bed in only navy blue Soffees with "PANTHERS" in gold on the butt and a white tank top.

"But it's summer! I didn't want to be hot with the covers on," she whined.

"Whatever. Get ready for school."

"Kay"

An hour later, Little Riggins checked herself in the mirror. Ellie had always known she was pretty. She had been blessed with good genes, people always told her so. She was wearing light wash skinny jeans rolled up just past her ankles, and white v-neck top. Her shoulder length, dark brown hair was already swept up into a perky ponytail with her Panthers bow at the top. For makeup she was only wearing a little blush and some mascara. She had already packed her cheerleading bag the night before.

She walked downstairs to the breakfast nook.

"Mmmm. Bacon!" she exclaimed.

But when she reached for a piece, her mother smacked her wrist. Ellie looked up at her shacked and confused.

"Not for you," Lyla explained, "You get a fruit smoothie."

"But I like bacon," Ellie pouted. She gave her father her puppy dog eyes. That always worked.

"Sorry, Tex. If it were up to me, the only thing you would eat would be bacon. But I can't argue with your mom."

She flopped down into her chair as Lyla gave a victory smile, "Fine," Ellie grumbled.

10 minutes later, the whole Riggins family was climbing into their Range Rover. Tim turned on the radio to a station that only talked about Panther football. Let's just say that Ellie was glad she had an iPhone to listen to.

**At Football Practice:**

The boys took the field, where the girls were already stretching on the sidelines. Will got a glimpse of one of the girls and kept looking over to where she was. She was the smallest one of the 20 girls, and by far the most beautiful. Her wavy brown hair was so shiny, and Will couldn't help but notice that even though she was so petite, she definitely had curves.

Will turned to his best friend, Everett, who was also his co-captain, "Hey, do you know who that girl is? The little one."

"Dude, that's Elizabeth Riggins." His best friend since peewee was looking at him as if he were insane.

"Like as in Coach Riggins?" Will just looked at him cluelessly before turning his gaze towards the adorable girl again.

"No shit! Will, that's his daughter!"

"Oh."

After practice Will got up the nerve to talk to the pretty girl.

"H-hi. I-I'm Will. S-saracen."

Ellie barely glanced at the boy before turning her head, "I know who you are. QB1, right?" she didn't wait for an answer, "I don't talk to football players." Then she walked off towards the girls locker rooms.

"I'm such an idiot," Will said while running his right hand through his hair.

"As much as I hate to agree," Everett laughed, "Ah who am I kidding. Will, you are the biggest dumbass on the planet for thinking you would have a chance with Coach Tim Riggins' baby girl. Even f she hadn't turned you down, her dad would murder you before you even got to first base."

"Yeah, but…"

"No buts! We need you to win!"

"Dude! What the hell ever happed to 'Gee, Will, it would really suck if you were to get killed.'"

"You know I'd be depressed, we don't have to advertise it," Everett waved his hand as if to say it were no big deal, "But seriously, Will, messing with a coach's daughter is bad news."

"My dad did it! Things worked out fine for him!"

"Yeah, but Coach Taylor wasn't an ex-alcoholic that used to have violent tendencies."

Will knew his friend was right, but he couldn't get the idea out of his head that maybe he and Elizabeth could have something great.


	3. The Perfect Thing

Will and Everett walked through the side doors into the hallways of Dillon High School. Everett would still not shut up about the Elizabeth Riggins thing, "I'm serious, Will. Do not pursue this chick. Does she have a killer body? Yes. Is her feisty attitude a total turn on? Hell yes. Will Coach Riggins beat you to a pulp if he finds out you so much as looked at her? Damn straight. Listen to me, man. She's not worth dying."

Just as he said that, Will spotted Elizabeth's ponytail swish ahead of him. He started to walk faster toward her, "Mhm, yeah. Sure, man. Will do."

"I repeat, Saracen, NOT WORTH DYING," Everett shouted after him.

Once Will caught up to Ellie, he was almost out of breath, "Excuse me, Elizabeth? I believe we met briefly this morning, I didn't really get a chance to say anything before you walked off."

Ellie rolled her eyes and kept walking, "Strategic planning on my part."

"Well, look. I just wanted to tell you that I think you're the prettiest girl I've ever seen. I mean not that that's the only reason that I wanted to talk to you, but I mean, it's what first caught my eye."

Ellie spun around and put a hand on his chest to keep him from moving further, "I already told you, Saracen. I don't talk to football players." She turned back around and continued walking.

"Don't you think that's a little weird, considering the fact that you're a cheerleader?" he asked, just loud enough for her to hear.

She stopped in her tracks, but didn't turn to face him, "Actually, no. I don't find it weird at all, and I don't have to explain myself to you. I already made it clear I don't want to talk to you, so please just leave me alone." She then stormed toward her next class.

Will stood in the middle of the hallway, just watching her walk away. He just didn't get it. What cheerleader didn't talk to the football players? But he knew one thing for sure; he was going to get Ellie to talk to one football player, himself.

LATER ON THAT DAY:

Will sat at a table in the cafeteria by himself, waiting to for Everett to get his food from the lunch line. He felt a heavy hand slam against his back and before he knew it, Josh Powell was sitting in the seat next to him.

"Saracen, what's up man? QB1! Big man on campus!" Josh Powell played defense for the football team. He was a little bit of a meat head.

Will chuckled. As ridiculous as Josh was, he could always make him laugh, "Yeah, I guess so."

"So, dude, first order of business: which cheerleader are you gonna bang first?"

Will literally spit out some of the water he had been drinking.

"I'm being completely serious, man. Those ladies just keep getting finer and finer. Megan Gooding is a total fox, but word on the street is she's crawling with diseases."

Will just shook his head.

"Corinne Daniels is pretty sexy, but we all know she's saving herself for your buddy, Everett. Zoey Hardwick is ridiculously flexible and those eyes just scream kinky."

Will had just started to tune Josh out when he said something that made his ears perk up.

"But, OH MAN! Have you seen that new freshman? Coach's kid? Damn! You could bounce a quarter of that sweet ass! And just imagine doing her mom at the same time, I mean their practically twins. It'd be like having a threesome with the same hottie!"

At this point, Will was practically seething. Hearing Josh talk like that about Elizabeth made him want to tackle his friend and beat him senseless. He was practically red in the face from bottling all that rage up when Josh said, "Well, later dude, I'm gonna go see if I can charm the pants of Zoey."

Soon after Josh got up, Everett sat down.

"Dude, what's up? You look really freaking pissed."

"Nothing. Josh just said something Josh-like about Elizabeth that rubbed me the wrong way."

Everett's eyes went wide, "What? Are you freaking kidding me? Dude! You're overprotective of her now? Not cool, man, not cool! Okay, we talked about this. Little Riggins is off limits!"

Will rolled his eyes, "We didn't talk about this man. You talked, I ignored you."

Everett proceeded to try to persuade Will to go out with anyone else but Elizabeth, "What about Corinne Daniels? Huh? I mean, she's really pretty and I'm sure she'd go for you!" Corinne Daniels was a cheerleader that had lived down the street from Everett since they were little kids. She was also quite obviously in love with Everett. The only person that didn't know was Everett himself.

"You know, dude, I just have this feeling in my gut that I'm not her type.

Everett got up to throw his trash out, "Look, Will. Suit yourself, but please listen to me when I tell you- No, when I beg of you, do not go out with Elizabeth Riggins. Go out with anyone but Elizabeth Riggins."

"Whatever, man. You don't have anything to worry about. She's made it very clear that she's not interested in football players."

Everett rolled his green eyes, "She lying, Will. All girls are interested in football players. Especially bighearted, polite quarterbacks."

EVEN LATER ON THAT DAY:

Ellie walked into her chemistry class and took a seat on the left side of the room. She had taken the pre-requisites to the class over the summer so the kids in the room were all juniors, instead of sophomores like her. However, knowing that much did not stop her jaw from dropping when Will Saracen walked into the class room.

"You've got to be kidding me, "she muttered as he took a seat at the desk just diagonal from hers.

Soon Mrs. Thorpe started the class. She gave a brief introduction, and then she said, "Alright, your first grade this semester will be a project. I'm going to assign every one of you a partner and you are all going to a conduct an experiment outside of school. I expect a report by the end of the next week." She then proceeded to go down the list of names, assigning partners. You can imagine both Ellie and Will's shock when she said, "And finally, Elizabeth Riggins and Will Saracen, you too will be working together."

After class, Ellie walked straight up to her teacher's desk," Mrs. Thorpe, there has to be some way I can switch partners."

Mrs. Thorpe clucked her tongue, "Miss Riggins, I'm afraid I won't be switching around any partnerships. You should be thankful, Mr. Saracen is a model student and you could have a much worse partner."

Ellie sighed and walked out the door, and shortly after Will followed her, making sure to thank Mrs. Thorpe on his way out.

"Elizabeth! Elizabeth, wait up!" Will was racing after her.

Ellie spun around, "Look just come over tomorrow night so we can get this over with okay?"

"Okay. Yeah, sure thing."

THE NEXT NIGHT:

Will and Ellie had been working on their project for the last hour and to say it had been awkward would be an understatement.

"Look, I know you said you didn't owe an explanation as to why you don't talk to football players, but I was thinking I'm here now, and you kind of have to talk to me. So, maybe you could share, just because," Will thought out loud.

Ellie let out a deep breath through her mouth, "When I was a little girl, my dad used to take me to the Panther games. He would pick me up, and put me on his shoulders. He was just so happy watching the game, even when they lost. It was our perfect thing.

"And when I got older, and he started helping out with the team, he couldn't really take me to the games anymore, and we didn't have our perfect thing. So, when I reached high school, I thought cheerleading would be the perfect way to be there on the sidelines with him. I thought it would be a way to preserve our perfect thing. I also knew that talking to the players, and building relationships with them would somehow tarnish that. It wouldn't be just me and my dad's thing anymore. I guess it's kind of stupid."

Will looked her right in the eye, "It's not stupid. It's not stupid at all."

Ellie gave him a small half smile, "I'm finding it increasingly harder to ignore you, though."

He laughed, "Then my master plan is working!"

Ellie leaned in closer to him, to the point where their noses were touching. And then, Ellie Riggins kissed her first football player.


End file.
